David Silva and Gael Clichy have been ruled out of the Stoke City game as Manchester City's injury problems worsen.

Manchester City will be without five key players for their Premier League visit to Stoke.

Skipper Vincent Kompany (groin), new signing Martin Demichelis (knee) and Micah Richards (hamstring) are not yet fit enough to be in contention for the game, while David Silva (thigh) and Gael Clichy have also been ruled out.

Silva picked up a training injury with the Spain squad and Clichy is unavailable with a minor knock despite playing for France in midweek.

Silva is likely to miss out in Tuesday's Champions League clash at Viktoria Plzen and is now racing to be fit for next Sunday's Manchester derby: "We will see next week what happened with him. We hope he can be, not sure - we will try for the derby.

"Kompany is okay but I think it is a big risk for him to play three matches in one week.

"He needs two or three more days to be 100 per cent."

Clichy's injury presents an opportunity for Aleks Kolarov to stake his claim for a first-team place, while Manuel Pellegrini will be left hoping Joleon Lescott, Matija Nastasic, and Pablo Zabaleta make it through the game unscathed against a bruising Stoke side, with scarce cover on the bench for them.

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